Monday, September 29, 2008

It's the letters and emails like these that makes 365 days of phone calls, emails, and four months of crazed running around all seem worth it in the end:

Pat,

I had to take a moment to write about our Shark Diving Trip to Guadalupe, Mexico last week.The memories are so vivid in my mind. My God, what a trip! As you know I have travelled the world and visited more countries than I can count and never have I experienced such a wonderful, exciting, exhilarating time as I did on this trip.

This Shark Diving Trip was our first family vacation since my husband passed away.I so wanted Josh and Jyn to have a wonderful trip. I remember saying a prayer on the boat on the way out to Isla Guadalupe. "God, please let the kids see at least ONE shark so they can tell everyone they had seen a Great White." Well, God answers prayers but the Crew played a big part. Not only did we see one but we saw more than we could count over the three day period.

On the first day, every time we went down into the cages we saw sharks. And I mean EVERY group EVERY time. Unbelievable! On the second day every group, every time, saw sharks. And I mean BIG ones! Right in front of our cages. In fact, without naming names we had one male adult who opted out of the remaining cage dives for the rest of the trip as he was so shaken by the close encounters of such enormous Great Whites. Poor thing. But the view from the boat was just as exciting. There were sharks everywhere.

I'm sure you've heard this a hundred times.... but flash backs of the 70's movie, JAWS, was ever on my mind! The experience was simply too incredible to describe. We even saw a Great White breach. I don't mean just his head, I mean his entire body! I had heard on Shark Week that this only occurred in South Africa. I'll have to drop them a note to update their fact book! If only I had had my camera at the time.

The children had a blast. They had a smile on their faces the entire trip. I haven't seen them so happy and heard them laugh so much for a very long time. They were blown away by the experience and never stopped talking about the daily events the entire trip. Josh probably had more dives than anyone else on the boat! He jumped in every time anyone chose not to take their turn. And Jyn, she loved every moment. I still can be sure which she enjoyed more. The Crew or the sharks!!!!!!!!!! From the drop dead gorgeous Captain to the captivating Dive Master (and let's not forget the darling crew who she happened to think all looked like models) everything was perfect for her.

While I agree with her assessment of the crew, I was more thrilled with the fact that they were the most professional, kind and knowledge crew I had ever encountered. (My husband was an avid deep sea fisherman and we have been on numerous chartered fishing trips. So I can pretend to be an experts! Ha!) We have as many pictures of the crew as we did sharks! Luke, our Dive Master, kept us on a tight schedule. He insured we all had as many dives as we could possibly make. We were all so exhausted by the end of the day. A great feeling.

Anyway, I could go on for days. Did I mention that the chef on board was incredible? Do you know that he bakes fresh bread everyday? You failed to mention this! The kids were in heaven. He became their best friend and Skippy Rick fed them well. He was half the fun! Jyn and I had thought we might drop a few pounds on the trip in that it was going to be "boat food". Well, we both gained weight! Ha! . And I can't forget to mention the Federales! (MX Navy) It was so exciting to have them board our ship. We have many pictures of this event too. Just another wonderful action filled day that made the trip even more exciting!!!!

Please thank the crew again for us. And let them know it was the trip of a lifetime for our family. And lastly, thank you for all the calls, information and updates you provided prior to the trip. Clearly we made the right decision in going with SharkDiver.com and the Islander!

Have anyone who wants to hear first hand about the trip contact me. I'll be happy to share with them.

Kindest Regards from Atlanta,JeanniePS By the way, the island and view was spectacular. The nights were so clear and beautiful that we saw the Milky Way and every star in the sky. Jyn even saw her first shooting start!PPS We have over 500 pictures. I'll try and post them to my website and send you a link soon.

To never pass up a good Cephalopod story, image, video, or bathroom joke is the "other madate" of Underwater Thrills:Swimming With Sharks. Today we complete that mission and with the Dow Jones currently sitting at 777% below normal take a brief moment to loves your Cephalopods with us:

By now pretty much everyone in the industry has heard about or seen "The Photos". We're talking about an event at Isla Guadalupe with Great White sharks this September that will probably turn the shark diving industry upside down-and raise (or lower) the bar for human/white shark interactions for years to come.

The images were shot by famed photogAmos Nachoum with ample help from Jeb Corliss We also hear tell there's a video in the offing. Aside from that you'll have to wait until the images are released officially...we'll keep you posted.

Editors Note:What some people said could not be done, has been done, and now the rest of the dive world waits to see what new direction this takes an entire shark diving industry.

We had heard "rumors" about this years white shark predation in September from the crews of the Royal Star atGuadalupe. If you'll remember we caught last years shark predation on video. Without a video many of the shark stories we get never see the light of day.

Now if we could only get a cameraman without apparent hypothermia to shoot the next predation event: